Why Major (or Double/Dual Major) in Philosophy?

What skills will I acquire?

The practical value of studying philosophy lies not in any vocation-specific information that it imparts but rather in the intellectual training that it provides. Successful study of philosophy requires, and helps develop, several intellectual abilities:

- the ability to grasp the big picture as well as fine details

- the ability to think, speak, and write about highly abstract and conceptually demanding questions

- the ability to identify key assumptions made in arguments

- the ability to make relevant conceptual distinctions

- the ability to assess the pros and cons of proposed solutions.

Philosophy majors do extremely well, on average, on the main standardized tests:

- On the GRE (for graduate school), philosophy majors have (out of 50 majors) the highestverbal scores, the highestanalytic writing scores, and the fifteenth highestquantitative scores (higher than all other humanities and all social sciences other than economics). For older data, see here; for 2013 data, see here.

- On the GMAT (for business school), philosophy has the fourth highest scores (below mathematics, physics, and engineering). For data, see here.

Of course, the test scores for philosophy majors are probably high in large part because students who major in philosophy tend to be highly talented at the skills tested. Still, philosophy courses place a heavy emphasis on critical thinking, reading, and writing. Moreover, one learns a lot from being in the same class as a group of highly talented people.

A very small percentage (e.g., less than 5%) of philosophy majors go to graduate school in philosophy, earn PhD's, and become philosophy professors. Some go on to do PhD’s in other disciplines (such as psychology or economics). Many go on to law school, medical school, or other professional programs. On average, philosophy majors do extremely well in such programs. Others find jobs of various sorts (web design, technical writers, copyeditor, programmers, etc.).

The crucial point about the skills that philosophy develops is that they are general and transferable. Although a philosophy major does not prepare you for any particular job, it does prepare you well for a wide range of jobs that involve critical thinking. Moreover, although Philosophy majors without graduate degrees tend to have relatively low initial salaries, their salaries tend to increase faster than most other majors. For example, a recent study of fifty majors shows that the percentage increase from the starting median salary to the mid-career median salary was 103.5% for philosophy majors, which was tied with math for the being the highest of all majors (Wall Street Journal article). This same study shows that the mid-career median salary of someone whose only degree is a BA in Philosophy is $81,200, which is higher than the figures for many majors, including Chemistry, Accounting, Informational Technology, Communications, Business Management, Nursing, Psychology, Interior Design, and Education.